Systems, methods, and computer program products for capturing spectator content displayed at live events

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and computer program products for capturing spectator content displayed at live events. Spectator content that includes at least one spectator is captured from a stream of live video that is shown on a display at a live event. One or more time identifiers are determined that indicate when the spectator content is shown on the display. The spectator content and the one or more time identifiers are stored in a database such that the spectator content is linked with the time identifiers in the database. In response to receiving one or more search parameters submitted by a user, the one or more search parameters relating to at least one of the one or more time identifiers, the spectator content is retrieved from the database based on the search parameters. Thereafter, the spectator content is provided to the user.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to image processing systems and,more particularly, to systems, methods, and computer program productsfor capturing spectator content displayed at live events.

BACKGROUND

Venues for hosting live events, such as sporting events, often include alarge display that is centrally located so as to be viewable frompractically any seat in the venue. Typically, the display shows livevideo of the event when the event is active. In this way, if aspectator's view of an active live event becomes hindered, the spectatorcan continue observing the live event by viewing the display.

Unlike persons watching a live event remotely, such as from their homes,spectators present at a live event are generally not shown commercialsor other ancillary content when the live event is on break. Accordingly,when the live event is on break, it is common for the event display toshow live, close-up video of the present spectators to keep thespectators entertained. Often, the event display features live video ofspectators dancing, making funny faces, or waving from their seats. Manyspectators at a live event thus frequent their attention to the eventdisplay during an event break to both observe other spectators anddetermine whether they are currently being shown on the display.

Hence, when a spectator at a live event is shown on the event display,the spectator experiences a brief moment of fame such that he or she ismade particularly visible to the other spectators present at the event.However, the event display typically features any given spectator for aspan of only a few seconds. As a result, a spectator currently shown onthe event display has little time to memorialize his or her brief momentof fame, such as by pulling out a camera and snapping a photo of thedisplay before it switches to another spectator or scene.

Accordingly, a need exists for improved systems, methods, and computerprogram products for capturing spectator content that is displayed atlive events.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, an image processing system includes one or moreprocessors and a memory coupled to the one or more processors. Thememory includes instructions that upon execution by the one or moreprocessors cause the image processing system to capture an image of aspectator from a stream of live video that is shown on a display at alive event, determine one or more time identifiers that indicate whenthe image of the spectator is shown on the display, and store the imageof the spectator and the one or more time identifiers in a database suchthat the image is linked with the one or more time identifiers withinthe database. In response to receiving one or more search parameterssubmitted by a user, the one or more search parameters relating to atleast one of the one or more time identifiers, the instructions furthercause the image processing system to retrieve the image of the spectatorfrom the database based on the one or more search parameters, andprovide the retrieved image to the user.

In another embodiment, a method includes capturing an image of aspectator from a stream of live video that is shown on a display at alive event, determining one or more time identifiers that indicate whenthe image of the spectator is shown on the display, and storing theimage of the spectator and the one or more time identifiers in adatabase such that the image is linked with the one or more timeidentifiers within the database. In response to receiving one or moresearch parameters submitted by a user, the one or more search parametersrelating to at least one of the one or more time identifiers, the methodfurther includes retrieving the image of the spectator from the databasebased on the one or more search parameters, and providing the retrievedimage to the user.

In a further embodiment, a computer program product includes anon-transitory computer readable medium. Instructions are stored on thecomputer readable medium that, upon execution by one or more processors,cause the one or more processors to capture an image of a spectator froma stream of live video that is shown on a display at a live event,determine one or more time identifiers that indicate when the image ofthe spectator is shown on the display, and store the image of thespectator and the one or more time identifiers in a database such thatthe image is linked with the one or more time identifiers within thedatabase. In response to receiving one or more search parameterssubmitted by a user, the one or more search parameters relating to atleast one of the one or more time identifiers, the instructions furthercause the one or more processors to retrieve the image of the spectatorfrom the database based on the one or more search parameters, andprovide the retrieved image to the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will be understood and appreciatedmore fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunctionwith the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an exemplary operating environment thatincludes a plurality of computer systems and a live event.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an exemplary computer system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an exemplary processing architecture thatmay be utilized to capture images of spectators at live events.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for capturing images ofspectators at live events.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for capturing images of adisplay at a live event.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for providing imagesincluding spectators to a user.

FIG. 7 shows a screen of an exemplary graphical user interface.

FIG. 8 shows another screen of the exemplary graphical user interface.

FIGS. 9A-C show exemplary images including spectators that may beprovided to a user.

FIGS. 10A-B show exemplary borders that may be placed around imagesincluding spectators.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 provides an exemplary operating environment 10 that may include avenue 12 for hosting a live event 14, such as a sporting event (e.g.,baseball, basketball, football, hockey, tennis, soccer, Olympics, etc.),a concert, a convention, or the like. More particularly, the venue 12may include an area dedicated to performance of the live event 14, and aseating area 15 for one or more spectators 16 who have gathered toobserve the live event 14 in person. The venue 12 may further include adisplay 18 and one or more video cameras 20. The one or more videocameras 20 may be capable of panning across and/or moving about thevenue 12 to capture live, close-up video of the live event 14 and/or thespectators 16. The video cameras 20 may further be coupled to thedisplay 18 such that the video captured by the video cameras 20 is shownon at least a portion of the display 18 during the live event 14.

The display 18 may be a large display that is centrally positionedadjacent to the live event 14 and the seating area 15 so as to begenerally viewable by any spectator 16 in the seating area 15 of thevenue 12. Alternatively, the display 18 may include a plurality ofdisplays that are positioned such that each display is viewable by atleast a portion of the spectators 16 at the live event 14. In additionto the video captured by the video cameras 20, the display 18 may beconfigured to also provide information relating to the live event 14,such as a score, time remaining, identification of the participants inthe live event 14, and the like.

The display 18 may show the live, close-up video of the live event 14when the live event 14 is active (i.e., not on break). Because thedisplay 18 may be positioned so as to be generally viewable by anyspectator 16 in the seating area 15, if a spectator's 16 view of thelive event 14 is or becomes hindered, such as from being seated far fromthe live event 14 or by another spectator 16 standing up in front of thehindered spectator 16, then the spectator 16 having the hindered viewmay turn his or her attention to the display 18 to continue observingthe live event 14. In addition, the display 18 may show replays ofexciting action occurring in the live event 14, but at a slower paceand/or at a closer angle, to enable the spectators 16 to view theexciting action with increased clarity.

In addition, the display 18 may show the live, close-up video of thespectators 16 when the live event 14 is on break, such as during atimeout, during an event transition, or between, before, or after activeportions of a live event 14 (e.g., innings, quarters, halves, etc.). Inparticular, the display 18 may alternate between the live video capturedby each of the video cameras 20, each live video including a differentportion of the seating area 15. In this way, when the live event 14 ison break, a spectator 16 may view the display 18 to both observe otherspectators 16 and determine whether he or she is currently beingfeatured on the display 18. Because the display 18 may be positioned soas to be generally viewable by any spectator 16 in the seating area 15,when a spectator 16 is featured on the display 18, the spectator 16 mayfeel a brief moment of fame in that he or she is particularly visible toother spectators 16 at the live event 14. Hence, a spectator 16 who isfeatured on the display 18 may desire to memorialize this moment offame, such as by receiving a commemorative photo or video clip thatincludes an image or video segment of the spectator 16 that was shown onthe display 18.

To this end, the operating environment 10 may further include an imageprocessing server 22. The image processing server 22 may be generallyconfigured to capture spectator content, such as images and/or videosegments that include at least one spectator 16, that is shown on thedisplay 18, and may be generally configured to provide such spectatorcontent to requesting users. In one embodiment, the image processingserver 22 may tap into the video feed of the display 18, and therebyreceive the same video data that is received at the display 18. From thereceived data, the image processing server 22 may be configured toretrieve and categorize images and/or video segments that include one ormore of the spectators 16 at the live event 14. The image processingserver 22 may then provide such images and/or video segments to usersover a network 26, such as the Internet.

For example, a spectator 16 who was featured on the display 18 mayutilize a user device 28, such as a mobile phone, a personal computer, atablet, or the like, or may utilize a kiosk 30 to access the imageprocessing server 22 over the network 26. The spectator 16 may thensearch the image processing server 22 for an image or video segment thatincludes the spectator 16. After finding a desired image or videosegment, the spectator 16 may elect to purchase the image or videosegment, and the image processing server 22 may then provide the imageor video segment to the requesting spectator 16, such as via printing atthe kiosk 30 (for the image) and/or via electronic delivery over thenetwork 26. Additionally or alternatively, prints of the desired image,or a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising the desiredvideo segment, may be mailed to the requesting user. A user may alsoselect various processing options for a selected image or video segment,such as adding a background, a border, and/or a description of the liveevent 14 (e.g., identification, score, date, context of the image, etc.)to the image or video segment.

The operating environment 10 may also include one or more stationarycameras 24 that are adapted to capture video or still images of thedisplay 18. More particularly, each of the stationary cameras 24 may beconfigured to capture a different viewpoint of the display 18 during thelive event 14. For example, one stationary camera 24 a may be positionedso as to capture video or still images of the portion of the display 18that shows the live, close-up video captured by the video cameras 20(e.g., FIG. 9A). Another stationary camera 24 b may be positioned so asto capture additional portions of the display 18, and may further bepositioned so as to capture a portion of the seating area 15 (e.g., FIG.9B). And another stationary camera 24 c may be positioned so as tocapture even more content, such as the display 18, a portion of theseating area 15, and a portion of the live event 14 (e.g., FIG. 9C). Thestationary cameras 24 may be coupled to the image processing server 22such that the image processing server 22 is able to control operation ofthe stationary cameras 24 and/or receive the still images or videocaptured by the stationary cameras 24. From the received video or stillimages, the image processing server 22 may be configured to retrieve andcategorize images and/or video segments that were shown on the display18 and include one or more of the spectators 16 at the live event 14.Moreover, the image processing server 22 may be configured to storeimages of the different viewpoints captured by the stationary cameras 24(which may be extracted from video captured by the stationary cameras24), and enable a user to request that one of these viewpoint images beused as a frame (a.k.a. background) image on which to superimpose aselected image or video segment of one or more spectators 16.

In the illustrated embodiment, the image processing server 22 isincluded within the venue 12, and the kiosk 30 and the user device 28are located outside of the venue 12. However, in alternativeembodiments, the image processing server 22 may be, at least partially,remotely located from the venue 12 and receive data via the network 26.In other words, the image processing server 22 may include a componentthat is located within the venue 12, and a component that is locatedoutside the venue 12 and is accessible through the network 26.Furthermore, in alternative embodiments, the kiosk 30 and/or the userdevice 28 may be located within the venue 12.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the image processing server 22, the kiosk 30,and the user device 28 may be implemented on one or more computerdevices or systems, such as exemplary computer system 32. The computersystem 32 may include a processor 34, a memory 36, a mass storage memorydevice 38, an input/output (I/O) interface 40, and/or a Human MachineInterface (HMI) 36. The computer system 32 may also be operativelycoupled to one or more external resources 44 via the network 26 or I/Ointerface 40. External resources may include, but are not limited to,servers, databases, mass storage devices, peripheral devices,cloud-based network services, or any other suitable computer resourcethat may be used by the computer system 32.

The processor 34 may include one or more devices selected frommicroprocessors, micro-controllers, digital signal processors,microcomputers, central processing units, field programmable gatearrays, programmable logic devices, state machines, logic circuits,analog circuits, digital circuits, or any other devices that manipulatesignals (analog or digital) based on operational instructions that arestored in the memory 36. Memory 36 may include a single memory device ora plurality of memory devices including, but not limited, to read-onlymemory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), volatile memory, non-volatilememory, static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory(DRAM), flash memory, cache memory, or any other device capable ofstoring information. The mass storage memory device 38 may include datastorage devices such as a hard drive, optical drive, tape drive,non-volatile solid state device, or any other device capable of storinginformation.

The processor 34 may operate under the control of an operating system 46that resides in memory 36. The operating system 46 may manage computerresources so that computer program code embodied as one or more computersoftware applications, such as an application 48 residing in memory 36,may have instructions executed by the processor 34. In an alternativeembodiment, the processor 34 may execute the application 48 directly, inwhich case the operating system 46 may be omitted. One or more datastructures 50 may also reside in memory 36, and may be used by theprocessor 34, operating system 46, or application 48 to store ormanipulate data.

The I/O interface 40 may provide a machine interface that operativelycouples the processor 34 to other devices and systems, such as thenetwork 26 or external resource 44. The application 48 may thereby workcooperatively with the network 26 or external resource 44 bycommunicating via the I/O interface 40 to provide the various features,functions, applications, processes, or modules comprising embodiments ofthe invention. The application 48 may also have program code that isexecuted by one or more external resources 44, or otherwise rely onfunctions or signals provided by other system or network componentsexternal to the computer system 32. Indeed, given the nearly endlesshardware and software configurations possible, persons having ordinaryskill in the art will understand that embodiments of the invention mayinclude applications that are located externally to the computer system32, distributed among multiple computers or other external resources 44,or provided by computing resources (hardware and software) that areprovided as a service over the network 26, such as a cloud computingservice.

The HMI 42 may be operatively coupled to the processor 34 of computer 32in a known manner to allow a user to interact directly with the computer32. The HMI 42 may include video or alphanumeric displays, a touchscreen, a speaker, and any other suitable audio and visual indicatorscapable of providing data to the user. The HMI 42 may also include inputdevices and controls such as an alphanumeric keyboard, a pointingdevice, keypads, pushbuttons, control knobs, microphones, etc., capableof accepting commands or input from the user and transmitting theentered input to the processor 34.

A database 52 may reside on the mass storage memory device 38, and maybe used to collect and organize data used by the various systems andmodules described herein. The database 52 may include data andsupporting data structures that store and organize the data. Inparticular, the database 52 may be arranged with any databaseorganization or structure including, but not limited to, a relationaldatabase, a hierarchical database, a network database, or combinationsthereof. A database management system in the form of a computer softwareapplication executing as instructions on the processor 34 may be used toaccess the information or data stored in records of the database 52 inresponse to a query, where a query may be dynamically determined andexecuted by the operating system 46, other applications 48, or one ormore modules. In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, the database52 may comprise a spectator image database 64 (FIG. 3) that includesimages or video segments of spectators 16 captured from displays 18 atlive events 14, and/or a frame image database 65 (FIG. 3) that includesframe images on which a captured image or video segment of one or morespectators 16 may be superimposed at a user's request.

FIG. 3 illustrates an image processing architecture 60 that may includean image processing module 62, a spectator image database 64, a frameimage database 65, and/or a graphical user interface 66. The imageprocessing architecture 60 may be provided by one or more of the imageprocessing server 22, the kiosk 30, the user device 28, and/or any othersuitable system. In operation, the image processing module 62 mayreceive image data 68, such as from the video cameras 20 or thestationary cameras 24. For example, the image data 68 may include livevideo of the spectators 16 and the live event 14 that is captured by thevideo cameras 20 and shown on the display 18 during the live event 14.In addition or alternatively, the image data 68 may include video orstill images having one or more viewpoints of the display 18 that iscaptured by the stationary cameras 24 during the live event 14.

The image processing module 62 may be configured to analyze the imagedata 68 to capture images or video segments therefrom that were shown onthe display 18 and include at least one of the spectators 16. The imageprocessing module 62 may further be configured to store such images orvideo segments in the spectator image database 64. Similarly, the imageprocessing module 62 may be configured to analyze the image data 68 tocapture images therefrom that include different viewpoints of thedisplay 18, which may serve as a frame image for one of the images orvideo segments stored in the spectator image database 64. The imageprocessing module 62 may be configured to store such frame images in theframe image database 65.

The image processing module 62 may further be configured to generate thegraphical user interface 66, which may be displayed on the user device28 or the kiosk 30. In this way, a spectator 16 or other user may accessthe graphical user interface 66 from the kiosk 30 or the user device 28,and utilize the graphical user interface 66 to search for and purchasean image or video segment of one or more spectators 16 that was shown onthe display 18 and was stored in the spectator image database 64. Thespectator 16 may also add effects to an image or video segment selectedfrom the spectator image database 64, such as placing the selected imageor video segment into a frame image stored in the frame image database65.

FIG. 4 provides an exemplary process 100 for capturing images and/orvideo segments that are shown on the display 18 and include one or morespectators 16. The process 100 may be performed by the image processingarchitecture 60. In block 102, a stream of live video may be received,such as at the image processing module 62. More particularly, the imageprocessing module 62 may tap into the video feed of the display 18 andthereby receive the stream of live video that is shown on the display 18at the live event 14. As previously described, the stream of live videothat is shown on the display 18 may include one or more images of thelive event 14 and one or more images of spectators 16 at the live event14.

In block 104, the received video stream may be sliced into videosegments, each which includes a chronological sequence of images thatare very close in time to one another. Each video segment may include adifferent person or a different group of persons. For example, the imageprocessing module 62 may be configured to utilize facial recognitionsoftware to determine when the received video stream includes a personor a group of persons, and when the video stream changes from featuringone person or group to featuring another scene, which may includeanother person or group. Based on the detected changes, the imageprocessing module 62 may be configured to automatically create a videosegment for each new person or group featured in the video stream.

Each video segment may then be evaluated. More particularly, in block105, one of the video segments may be evaluated so as to determinewhether the video segment includes spectators 16 or participants of thelive event 14 (e.g., players). The image processing module 62 may beconfigured to make this determination based on pixel analysis and/orfacial recognition. More particularly, the image processing module 62may maintain a database of facial profiles for each participant of thelive event 14, such as the players of each sporting team. Additionallyor alternatively, the image processing module 62 may maintain a pixelprofile relating to the live event 14, which may include one or morecolors (e.g., the color of a field) and/or one or more pixelconfigurations (e.g., graphics painted on a field) expected to be in thearea dedicated to the live event 14. For each video segment, the imageprocessing module 62 may be configured to compare the video segment tothe facial profiles and/or the pixel profile to determine whether thevideo segment likely includes participants of the live event 14 orspectators 16 at the live event 14. For example, if the image processingmodule 62 determines that at least a predetermined percentage of thepixels in a video segment match the color of the field for the liveevent 14, then the image processing module 62 may determine that thevideo segment includes participants of the live event 14, and notspectators 16.

The image processing module 62 may also utilize the status of the liveevent 14 when a video segment is shown on the display 18 to determinewhether the video segment includes participants of the live event 14 orspectators 16. For example, if a video segment is shown on the display18 (i.e., received from the video feed for the display 18) when the liveevent 14 is on break, then the image processing module 62 may beconfigured to determine that the video segment includes spectators 16.Alternatively, the live event 14 being on break may be a precursor(e.g., necessary precondition) for determining whether a video segmentincludes spectators 16 or participants of a live event 14. Moreparticularly, the image processing module 62 may be configured to firstdetermine whether the live event 14 is on break when a video segment isshown on the display 18, and if so, determine whether the video segmentincludes spectators 16 using one or more of the techniques describedabove.

If a video segment is determined to not include one or more spectators16 (“NO” branch of block 106), then, in block 114, a next video segmentmay be evaluated. Alternatively, if a video segment is determined toinclude one or more spectators 16 (“YES” branch of block 106), then, inblock 108, one or more images of the one or more spectators 16 may becaptured from the video segment. In particular, the image processingmodule 62 may create an image set from the video segment by capturing animage from the video segment at regular intervals. For example, two tothree images may be captured from the video segment per second. Becauseeach video segment may include the same one or more spectators 16throughout the segment, each image of an image set may also include thesame one or more spectators 16.

In block 110, one or more time identifiers may be determined for theimage set and/or video segment. The time identifiers determined for animage set and/or video segment may indicate when the image set and/orvideo segment is shown on the display 18 (i.e., received from the videofeed of the display 18), and/or may indicate when each image of theimage set is shown on the display 18. In one embodiment, the one or moretime identifiers may include a time of day and/or a time relative to thelive event 14. For example, when the live event 14 is a sporting event,the one or more time identifiers may include a time of day, which may bean exact time or a timespan (e.g., 5 PM to 6 PM), and/or a portion ofthe sporting event (e.g., the quarter, half, inning, period, or timetherebetween, the time remaining in the live event 14, etc.) in which avideo segment and/or image was shown on the display 18.

In block 112, the image set, the video segment, the time identifiers,and/or an event record may be stored in a database, such as thespectator image database 64. The event record may include any datasuitable for identifying the live event 14, such as the type (e.g.,concert, sporting event, etc.), the sub-type (e.g., football, baseball,basketball, etc.), the level (e.g., college, professional, etc.), theaffiliation (e.g., league, conference, division, etc.), the date, thelocation, the start time, and/or the participants related to the liveevent 14. The image processing module 62 may be configured to store theimage set, video segment, time identifiers, and/or event record in thespectator image database 64 such that the image set and/or video segmentis linked with the time identifiers and/or the event record in thespectator image database 64. In addition, each image set may be linkedin the spectator image database 64 to the video segment from which theimage set was captured. In one embodiment, the time identifiers and/orevent record for an image set and/or video segment may be stored inmetadata for the images of the image set and/or the video segment.

After (or concurrently with) the performance of blocks 108, 110, and/or112 of the process 100, in block 114, another one of the video segmentsmay be evaluated so as to determine whether it includes one or morespectators 16. By processing multiple video segments in parallel, theoverall latency of a system configured to implement the process 100 isreduced.

Although the process 100 has been described in the context of oneembodiment, it will be understood that parts of the process 100 may bealtered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the process 100.For example, rather than slicing the received video stream into videosegments, the image processing module 62 may be configured to determinewhen the received video stream includes one or more spectators 16 and,in response to making such a determination, capture images of spectators16 directly from the received video stream, such as at regularintervals. Alternatively, the image processing module 62 may beconfigured to capture images from the video stream at regular intervals,such as at a rate of two to three images per second, irrespective of thecontent of the video stream, and thereafter determine which of thecaptured images includes spectators 16 using the techniques describedabove. Furthermore, each of the blocks of the process 100 may beperformed automatically and/or may be performed in essentially real-time(i.e., as the video stream is received and buffered). Alternatively, oneor more of the blocks of the process 100 may be performed manually by auser and/or may be performed after at least a portion of the videostream has been received and stored. As an example of manualperformance, a user may manually select when the received video streamincludes one or more spectators 16, and/or when the video stream changesfrom including one individual or group of spectators 16 to anotherindividual or group of spectators 16.

In an alternative embodiment, rather than capturing video segments andimages of spectators 16 that are shown on the display 18 from thereceived video stream, the image processing module 62 may capture suchvideo segments and images via the one or more stationary cameras 24.More particularly, at least one of the one or more stationary cameras24, such as the stationary camera 24 a, may be centered on andconfigured to capture the portion of the display 18 that shows the live,close-up video of the live event 14 and the spectators 16 that iscaptured by the video cameras 20. In this embodiment, the imageprocessing module 62 may determine, from the video feed of the display18 and/or using the above-described techniques, and/or based on a manualindication from an operator, whether the display 18 is currently showingspectators 16. If so, the image processing module 62 may instruct thestationary camera 24 a to start capturing images of the display 18 atregular intervals, such as at a rate of every two to three images persecond, or instruct the stationary camera 24 a to start capturing videoof the display 18. Thereafter, when the image processing module 62determines that the display 18 is no longer showing spectators 16, suchas using the techniques described above and/or based on another manualindication from an operator, the image processing module 62 may instructthe stationary camera 24 a to stop capturing images or video. The imageprocessing module 62 may then receive the images or video from thestationary camera 24 a, and may create an image set or video segment foreach spectator 16 or group of spectators 16 using the techniquesdescribed above (e.g., facial recognition, comparison with a pixelprofile and/or known facial profiles, etc.).

In yet another embodiment, the image processing module 62 may instructthe stationary camera 24 a to continuously capture images at regularintervals of the display 18 or continuously capture video of the display18 throughout the live event 14, and thereafter determine which of thecaptured images or which portions of the video include spectators 16.The image processing module 62 may then create an image set or videosegment for each spectator 16 or group of spectators 16. In either ofthe above embodiments, the image processing module 62 may also determinethe one or more time identifiers for each image set and/or videosegment, and store the image sets and/or video segments in the spectatorimage database 64, as described above.

FIG. 5 provides a process 200 for capturing frame images, such as forthe frame image database 65. Each frame image may include a window inwhich to place an image or video segment of one or more spectators 16that was shown on the display 18 and is stored in the spectator imagedatabase 64 (e.g., FIGS. 9B and 9C). The process 200 may be performed bythe image processing architecture 60, and may be performed in parallelwith the process 100.

In block 202, images of the display 18 captured during the live event 14may be received, such as at the image processing module 62, for use asframe images. More particularly, the image processing module 62 mayreceive still images or video of the display 18 from one or more of thestationary cameras 24, such as the stationary camera 24 b and thestationary camera 24 c. Each of these stationary cameras 24 may bepositioned so as to capture the display 18 from a different viewpointhaving varied amounts of content. For example, the stationary camera 24b may be positioned so as to capture the display 18, including theportion thereof showing the video captured by the video cameras 20 andportions thereof showing other information (e.g., teams, score, timeremaining, etc.), and/or a portion of the seating area 15 (e.g., FIG.9B). The stationary camera 24 c may be positioned so as to captureadditional content, such as a portion of the live event 14 (e.g., FIG.9C). If video of the display 18 is received from the stationary cameras24 b and 24 c, the image processing module 62 may extract images of thedisplay 18 from the received video for use as the frame images.

In one exemplary embodiment, the image processing module 62 may beconfigured to instruct the stationary cameras 24 b, 24 c to capturestill images of the display 18 at regular intervals, such as every onesecond to every thirty seconds, during the live event 14. In anotherexemplary embodiment, when, as described above, at least one stationarycamera 24 (e.g., stationary camera 24 a) is centered on and configuredto capture the portion of the display 18 showing the live, close-upvideo, the image processing module 62 may be configured to instruct theother stationary cameras 24 (e.g., stationary cameras 24 b, 24 c) tocapture still images or video of the display 18 whenever the formerstationary camera 24 (e.g., stationary camera 24 a) is instructed to doso. In yet another embodiment, the image processing module 62 mayinstruct the stationary cameras 24 b, 24 c to continuously capture videoof the display 18 during the live event 14.

In block 204, one or more capture times for each of the images of thedisplay 18 (which may have been originally captured as still images ormay have been extracted from received video of the display 18) may bedetermined and/or recorded. Similar to the time identifiers describedabove, the capture times may indicate when each image of the display 18was captured by one of the stationary cameras 24. Specifically, thecapture times for one of the images of the display 18 may include a timeof day in which the image was captured and/or a time relative to thelive event 14. For example, when the live event 14 is a sporting event,the capture times may indicate a time of day, which may be an exact timeor a timespan (e.g., 5 PM to 6 PM), and/or a portion of the sportingevent (e.g., the quarter, half, inning, period, or time therebetween,the time remaining in the live event 14, etc.) that the image of thedisplay 18 was captured by the stationary cameras 24.

In block 206, the images of the display 18 (i.e., the frame images) maybe stored in a database, such as the frame image database 65, such thateach frame image is linked with its determined and/or recorded capturetimes and/or an event record within the frame image database 65. Theevent record may be the same as the event record stored in the spectatorimage database 64 described above.

FIG. 6 provides an exemplary process 300 that may be performed by theimage processing architecture 60 to provide an image or video segmentthat was shown on the display 18 and includes one or more spectators 16to a requesting user. In block 302, one or more search parameters may bereceived, such as at the image processing module 62, that relate to oneor more of the image sets and/or video segments stored in the spectatorimage database 64. More particularly, a user may access the graphicaluser interface 66, such as via the kiosk 30 or a user device 28, toenter the one or more search parameters, which may then be sent to theimage processing module 62. The one or more search parameters mayinclude any criteria suitable for identifying a live event 14 and/or aportion of the live event 14 in which a particular spectator 16 or groupof spectators 16 was featured on the display 18. For example, the searchparameters may relate to and/or include at least one of the one or moretime identifiers and/or at least a portion of the event record linkedwith one or more image sets and/or video segments in the spectator imagedatabase 64.

As a more specific example, the graphical user interface 66 may firstprompt a user to identify the live event 14, such as by making aninitial selection of the type of live event 14 (e.g. concert, sportingevent, etc.) Thereafter, the graphical user interface 66 may prompt theuser to enter additional details about the selected event type. Forinstance, in the case where the live event 14 is a professional baseballgame, once the user has selected that the live event 14 is a sportingevent, the user may be prompted to select a type of sport, league,division, and/or conference relating to the live event 14. In this case,the user may indicate that the live event 14 relates to MAJOR LEAGUEBASEBALL. Thereafter, the graphical user interface 66 may prompt theuser to select a team and a date of the live event 14. Alternatively, ifthe user is accessing the graphical user interface 66 via a kiosk 30that is located at the live event 14, identification of the specificlive event 14 may be known and thus one or more of these prompts may beomitted.

Once the specific live event 14 is known, the graphical user interface66 may prompt the user to select a time of day, which may be an exacttime or a timespan (e.g., 5 PM to 6 PM), and/or a portion of the liveevent 14 (e.g., the quarter, half, inning, period, or time therebetween,the time remaining in the live event 14, etc.) that a particularspectator 16 or group of spectators 16 was featured on the display 18.Returning to the above example where the live event 14 is a baseballgame, the graphical user interface 66 may prompt the user to enter theinning in which the particular spectator 16 or group of spectators 16was featured on the display 18.

In some embodiments, the graphical user interface 66 may also enable auser to enter a picture of a face, such as a photo taken of one's self(a.k.a. a “selfie”), as a search parameter. Such a picture may becompared with the image sets and/or video segments in the spectatorimage database 64 using facial recognition software to determine imagesets and/or video segments that include the provided face.

In addition, the graphical user interface 66 may further include a “justfeatured” button in which a spectator 16, upon or soon after beingfeatured on the display 18, may select to indicate as such. The imageprocessing module 62 may use such information, along with locationinformation provided thereto, as search parameters. For example,selection of the just featured button may generally inform the imageprocessing module 62 of the time of day that the spectator 16 wasfeatured on the display 18 and/or the time relative to a live event 14when the spectator 16 was featured. The location information may informthe image processing module 62 of the identification of the live event14 in which the spectator 16 was or is present, and may be derived frominformation submitted by a spectator 16 via the graphical user interface66, GPS data for the kiosk 30 or the user device 28 being used to accessthe graphical user interface 66, or identifiers transmitted from andrepresentative of the location of the kiosk 30 or the user device 28being used to access the graphical user interface 66.

As one example of the use of identifiers, the kiosk 30 or user device 28may display the graphical user interface 66 via an app installed thereonor a website accessed therefrom that is specifically related to the liveevent 14 (e.g., the app or website may be specific to a certain sport,league, team, the live event 14 itself, etc.) Hence, when a useraccesses the graphical user interface 66 through such an app or website,the image processing module 62 may be able to determine the locationinformation based on an identifier that is transmitted from andidentifies the app or website specifically related to the live event 14.For example, if the graphical user interface 66 is accessed through anapp specific to a certain baseball team, the image processing module 62may be able to identify the team from an identifier sent form the app.Thereafter, based upon when the just featured button is pressed, theimage processing module 62 may be able to identify the specific liveevent 14 in which the spectator 16 is or was present (e.g., a live event14 that matches the received identifier and that is currently occurringor recently ended).

In block 304, in response to receiving the one or more search parameterssubmitted by the user, images and/or video segments of one or morespectators 16 may be retrieved from the spectator image database 64based on the received search parameters. More particularly, the imageprocessing module 62 may search the spectator image database 64 for oneor more image sets and/or video segments matching the received searchparameters. For example, the image processing module 62 may retrieveimage sets and/or video segments that are linked in the spectator imagedatabase 64 with time identifiers and/or an event record matching thereceived search parameters. And if the image sets and/or video segmentsare retrieved in response to the just featured button being pressed,then the image processing module 62 may retrieve image sets and/or videosegments that are linked with time identifiers prior to when the justfeatured button was pressed and/or with an event record matching thereceived location information described above.

The image processing module 62 may then generate a plurality ofrepresentative images such that each matching image set and/or videosegment relates to a different one of the representative images, anddisplay such representative images on the graphical user interface 66.More particularly, each of the representative images may be based on orinclude an image from the image set and/or video segment that is relatedto the representative image and is stored in the spectator imagedatabase 64. In one example, each of the image sets may be linked withinthe spectator image database 64 to the video segment from which theimage set was captured, and each of the representative images may be animage from a different one of the matching image sets, such as the firstimage of the matching image set or an inferior version thereof (e.g., alow-resolution, thumbnail, and/or shadowed version), as a representativefor the image set and video segment from which the image set wascaptured. FIG. 7 illustrates a series of representative images, eachrepresenting a different image set and/or video segment. Therepresentative images may be displayed in chronological order, such asaccording to the time identifiers linked with the image sets and/orvideo segments represented by the representative images in the spectatorimage database 64. The user may scroll through the representative imagesvia the graphical user interface 66 to find an image set and/or videosegment having a particular spectator 16 or group of spectators 16.

After locating a representative image that represents a desired imageset or video segment, a user may select the representative image tocause the graphical user interface 66 to show the images of the imageset and/or the video segment that the selected representative imagerepresents. In other words, in response to receiving a selection of oneof the representative images on the graphical user interface 66, thegraphical user interface 66 may be altered to show each of the images ofthe image set related to the selected representative image, and/or thevideo segment related to the selected representative image. FIG. 8illustrates a screen that may be provided by the graphical userinterface 66 in response to a representative image being selected.Alternatively to the example shown in FIG. 8, each image of the imageset and/or the video segment represented by the selected representativeimage may take up an entire display, and a user may scroll left or rightto view the different images of the image set and/or the video segment.The images of a given image set may be displayed in chronological order,such as according to the time identifiers linked with each image of theimage set in the spectator image database 64. Once the image set and/orvideo segment represented by the selected representative image isdisplayed, the user may select one of the images of the displayed imageset and/or the displayed video segment via the graphical user interface66 for purchase.

In some embodiments, when a representative image is selected, thegraphical user interface 66 may be configured to display inferiorversions of each image in the image set represented by the selectedrepresentative image, and/or an inferior version of the video segmentrepresented by the selected representative image. For example, thegraphical user interface 66 may display a low-resolution, thumbnail,and/or shadowed version of each image in the image set and/or of thevideo segment. In this way, a user is prevented from taking ascreenshot, photo, or video of the graphical user interface 66 tocapture an adequate and/or useable version of an image and/or videosegment without providing payment. When an inferior version of an imageand/or video segment is selected, or when a pointer is brought to hoverover an inferior version of an image and/or video segment, a larger,albeit still inferior, version of the image and/or video segment may bedisplayed so as to enable a user to get a better view of the imageand/or video segment, such as to determine if the spectator 16 or thegroup of spectators 16 of the image and/or video segment is smiling. Theuser may then select the larger, inferior version to proceed to purchasea non-inferior version of the image and/or video segment (e.g., afull-resolution, non-shadowed version).

In block 306, the user's selection of an image and/or video segment ofone or more spectators 16 may be received, such as at the imageprocessing module 62. More particularly, the user may utilize thegraphical user interface 66 to select an image/or video segment that heor she wishes to purchase. The graphical user interface 66 may alsoprovide an option that enables a user to order a flip book that includestwo more images or each image of an image set represented by a selectedrepresentative image.

The graphical user interface 66 may also include one or more processingoptions for the selected image and/or video segment that are selectableby the user, which may be received in block 308, such as at the imageprocessing module 62. Examples of the one or more processing optionsthat may be offered to the user include a superimpose option, a borderoption, delivery options, and/or payment method options. For example,the user may request a copy of the selected image and/or video segmentonly, which is illustrated in FIG. 9A. Alternatively, the user mayselect the superimpose option to indicate a desire for the selectedimage and/or video segment to be superimposed or included on anothergraphic image, such as a stock background image, which may be a stockimage of a portion of the venue 12 (e.g., a stock image of the display18), or on one of the frame images stored in the frame image database65, which is illustrated in FIGS. 9B and 9C. If the user opts to have aselected image and/or video segment superimposed or included on one ofthe frame images in the frame image database 65, the user may furtherselect a desired viewpoint for the frame image, such as either theviewpoint captured by the stationary camera 24 b or the viewpointcaptured by the stationary camera 24 c.

If the user selects the border option, then the selected image and/orvideo segment may be processed, such as by the image processing module62, to place a border around the selected image and/or video segment,such as on a physical picture frame or in the form of a digital border,each of which may be additional options presented to and selectable bythe user. The border may be decorative and/or may include informationrelating to or about the live event 14. More particularly, afterselecting the border option, the user may select the type of informationthat is to be part of the border. Non-limiting examples of suchinformation include an identification of the live event 14, a date, afinal score, a logo or name of one or more of the participants of thelive event 14, and/or a context of the image (e.g., the image was shownon the display 18 during a “Kiss Cam” portion of the live event 14).FIGS. 10A and 10B provide illustrations of selected images that havebeen placed in picture frames having such additional information. Thegraphical user interface 66 may further enable a user to customize thedecorative aspects of the border for the selected image and/or videosegment (e.g., customize the color, pattern, etc.) as part of the borderoption.

Another processing option that may be provided to the user via thegraphical user interface 66 is an option to place decorations, effects,and/or text on the selected image and/or video segment itself, such asthe additional information described above. In the case of a selectedvideo segment, the graphical user interface 66 may also include one ormore processing options that, when selected, request the selected videosegment be provided in a slow-motion format and/or with an added soundclip (e.g., announcer commentary, sounds from the crowd, music, soundeffects, a personal message from the requesting user). In the case of aselected image, another processing option that may be provided to theuser via the graphical user interface 66 is an option to have theselected image placed onto an object, such as a cup, mug, magnet,blanket, phone case, pillow, ornament, etc.

As previously described, the graphical user interface 66 may alsoinclude multiple delivery options and/or payments options for theselected image and/or video segment that may be selectable by the user.For example, the graphical user interface 66 may include an electronicdelivery option, a printing option, a mail option, and/or a transfer toa social website option.

In block 310, if one or more processing options have been selected bythe user that relate to performing an operation on the selected image orvideo segment itself (e.g., the superimpose option, the border option,the option to apply decorations or text, the delivery options, and/orthe slow-motion option), then the selected image or video segment may beprocessed according to these one or more processing options. Forexample, if the user has selected the superimpose option, then inresponse to receiving the user's selection, the image processing module62 may query the frame image database 65 to determine a frame image thatis nearest in time to when the image or video segment selected by theuser was shown on the display 18. The “nearest-in-time” image may bedetermined based the determined and/or recorded capture times linked toeach of the frame images in the frame image database 65. Moreparticularly, the determination may be made by comparing the determinedand/or recorded capture times linked to each of the frame images in theframe image database 65 and the one or more time identifiers linked withthe user's selected image and/or video segment in the spectator imagedatabase 64. Furthermore, if the user has selected a specific viewpointas part of the superimpose option, then the nearest-in-time imagedetermination may be limited to those frame images having the selectedviewpoint. Regardless, once the nearest-in-time frame image having theproper viewpoint (if one has been selected) is determined, the user'sselected image and/or video segment may be superimposed onto thedetermined frame image.

As described above, in an alternative embodiment, the one or morestationary cameras 24, such as the stationary cameras 24 b and 24 c, maycapture images or video of the display 18 at the same time that anotherstationary camera 24, such as the stationary camera 24 a, capturesimages or video of the portion of the display 18 showing the live,close-up video of the one or more spectators 16. In this case, for eachimage and/or video segment of one or more spectators 16 that is storedin the spectator image database 64, one or more images having differentviewpoints of the display 18 while showing the stored spectator imageand/or video segment may be stored in the frame image database 65. Inother words, under this embodiment, each of the images and/or videosegments stored in the spectator image database 64 may already beincluded on at least one frame image in the frame image database 65.Accordingly, in this alternative embodiment, if the user selects animage or video segment from the spectator image database 64 and opts tohave the selected image or video segment provided on a frame imagehaving a certain viewpoint of the display 18, rather than superimposingthe selected image or video segment onto the nearest-in-time frame imagehaving the selected viewpoint, the image processing module 62 mayprocess the selected image or video segment by merely retrieving theframe image that has the selected viewpoint and includes the user'sselected image or video segment from the frame image database 65.

In block 312, the selected image or video segment, which may now beprocessed based on the user's selected processing options, may beprovided to the user, such as according to one of the delivery optionsthat a user has selected via the graphical user interface 66. In otherwords, providing the selected image or video segment to the user mayinclude providing the processed version of the image or video segment tothe user, if such processing options have been selected. In someembodiments, this may occur only after the user's selected paymentmethod has been processed and approved. In further embodiments, afterthe image or video segment itself has been processed, but before theselected payment method has been processed, the graphical user interface66 may generate a preview of the processed image or video segment forthe user's review. The user may then elect to purchase the processedimage or video segment by providing his or her payment method.

In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of theinvention, whether implemented as part of an operating system or aspecific application, component, program, object, module or sequence ofinstructions, or even a subset thereof, may be referred to herein as“computer program code,” or simply “program code.” Program codetypically comprises computer readable instructions that are resident atvarious times in various memory and storage devices in a computer andthat, when read and executed by one or more processors in a computer,cause that computer to perform the operations necessary to executeoperations and/or elements embodying the various aspects of theembodiments of the invention. Computer readable program instructions forcarrying out operations of the embodiments of the invention may be, forexample, assembly language or either source code or object code writtenin any combination of one or more programming languages.

Various program code described herein may be identified based upon theapplication within that it is implemented in specific embodiments of theinvention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular programnomenclature that follows is used merely for convenience, and thus theinvention should not be limited to use solely in any specificapplication identified and/or implied by such nomenclature. Furthermore,given the generally endless number of manners in which computer programsmay be organized into routines, procedures, methods, modules, objects,and the like, as well as the various manners in which programfunctionality may be allocated among various software layers that areresident within a typical computer (e.g., operating systems, libraries,API's, applications, applets, etc.), it should be appreciated that theembodiments of the invention are not limited to the specificorganization and allocation of program functionality described herein.

The program code embodied in any of the applications/modules describedherein is capable of being individually or collectively distributed as aprogram product in a variety of different forms. In particular, theprogram code may be distributed using a computer readable storage mediumhaving computer readable program instructions thereon for causing aprocessor to carry out aspects of the embodiments of the invention.

Computer readable storage media, which is inherently non-transitory, mayinclude volatile and non-volatile, and removable and non-removabletangible media implemented in any method or technology for storage ofinformation, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data. Computer readable storage media mayfurther include RAM, ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory(EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM),flash memory or other solid state memory technology, portable compactdisc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or other optical storage, magneticcassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magneticstorage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store thedesired information and which can be read by a computer. A computerreadable storage medium should not be construed as transitory signalsper se (e.g., radio waves or other propagating electromagnetic waves,electromagnetic waves propagating through a transmission media such as awaveguide, or electrical signals transmitted through a wire). Computerreadable program instructions may be downloaded to a computer, anothertype of programmable data processing apparatus, or another device from acomputer readable storage medium or to an external computer or externalstorage device via a network.

Computer readable program instructions stored in a computer readablemedium may be used to direct a computer, other types of programmabledata processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions thatimplement the functions, acts, and/or operations specified in theflowcharts, sequence diagrams, and/or block diagrams. The computerprogram instructions may be provided to one or more processors of ageneral purpose computer, a special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the one or more processors, cause aseries of computations to be performed to implement the functions, acts,and/or operations specified in the flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and/orblock diagrams.

In certain alternative embodiments, the functions, acts, and/oroperations specified in the flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and/or blockdiagrams may be re-ordered, processed serially, and/or processedconcurrently consistent with embodiments of the invention. Moreover, anyof the flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and/or block diagrams may includemore or fewer blocks than those illustrated consistent with embodimentsof the invention.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the embodimentsof the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the”are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the contextclearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that theterms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Furthermore, to the extentthat the terms “includes”, “having”, “has”, “with”, “comprised of”, orvariants thereof are used in either the detailed description or theclaims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar tothe term “comprising”.

While all of the invention has been illustrated by a description ofvarious embodiments and while these embodiments have been described inconsiderable detail, it is not the intention of the Applicant torestrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to suchdetail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear tothose skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects istherefore not limited to the specific details, representative apparatusand method, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly,departures may be made from such details without departing from thespirit or scope of the Applicant's general inventive concept.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image processing system, comprising: one ormore processors; and memory coupled to the one or more processors, thememory including instructions that upon execution by the one or moreprocessors cause the image processing system to: capture a first imageof a spectator at a live event from video content that is captured by aplurality of cameras at the live event and is shown on a central displayat the live event, the video content shown on the central displayfurther including an image of a participant of the live event; determineone or more display time identifiers corresponding to when the firstimage is shown on the central display during the live event; store thefirst image and the one or more display time identifiers in a firstdatabase such that the first image is linked with the one or moredisplay time identifiers within the first database; in response to thefirst image being shown on the central display and being stored in thefirst database, and to receiving, over a network, one or more searchparameters submitted by a user via a graphical user interface on a usercomputing device, the one or more search parameters including a searchtime identifier corresponding to when the first image of the spectatorwas shown on the central display at the live event, retrieve the firstimage from the first database based on the search time identifier andthe one or more display time identifiers linked with the first image inthe first database; and after retrieving the first image, transmit thefirst image to the user computing device over the network, wherein theuser computing device is configured to display the first imageresponsive to receiving the first image.
 2. The image processing systemof claim 1, wherein the instructions upon execution further cause theimage processing system to: store a record of the live event in thefirst database such that the first image is linked with the recordwithin the first database, wherein the one or more search parametersinclude an identification of the live event, and the instructions uponexecution cause the image processing system to retrieve the first imagebased on the identification of the live event and the record linked withthe first image.
 3. The image processing system of claim 1, wherein theinstructions upon execution further cause the image processing systemto: prior to transmitting the first image to the user computing device,and responsive to the first image being retrieved from the firstdatabase, process the first image according to a processing optionselected by the user via the graphical user interface, wherein theinstructions cause the image processing system to transmit the firstimage to the user computing device over the network by causing the imageprocessing system to: transmit the processed image over the network tothe user computing device.
 4. The image processing system of claim 3,wherein the instructions upon execution further cause the imageprocessing system to: capture a plurality of second images during thelive event via a stationary camera aimed at the central display, each ofthe second images being a different image of the central display,including a section of the central display that shows the video contentduring the live event, and being associated with a different capturetime; and store the second images and the capture time for each secondimage in a second database such that each of the second images is linkedwith the capture time for the respective second image within the seconddatabase, wherein the processing option selected by the user is asuperimpose option, and the instructions upon execution cause the imageprocessing system to process the first image according to the processingoption selected by the user by causing the image processing system to:identify from the second images the second image that is nearest in timeto the first image by comparing the capture time linked with each secondimage within the second database to the one or more display timeidentifiers linked with the first image; and superimpose the first imageonto the section of the identified second image that shows the videocontent during the live event, wherein the processed image transmittedto the user computing device includes the first image superimposed ontothe second image.
 5. The image processing system of claim 4, whereineach second image includes a section of the central display that showsinformation about the live event that is associated with the capturetime for the second image.
 6. The image processing system of claim 1,wherein the instructions cause the image processing system to capturethe first image from the video content by causing the image processingsystem to: slice the video content into a plurality of video segments,wherein a first one of the video segments includes the first image;determine which of the video segments includes one or more spectators;and capture a plurality of image sets from the video segments determinedto include one or more spectators such that each of the image sets iscaptured from and includes one or more images from a different one ofthe determined video segments, wherein the video segments determined toinclude the one or more spectators include the first video segment, andthe image set captured from the first video segment includes the firstimage.
 7. The image processing system of claim 6, wherein theinstructions cause the image processing system to store the first imagein the first database by causing the image processing system to storethe image sets in the first database, the one or more search parametersrelate to each of the image sets and are submitted after the first imageis shown on the central display and stored in the first database, andthe instructions upon execution further cause the image processingsystem to: in response to receiving the one or more search parameterssubmitted by the user that relate to each of the image sets, generate aplurality of representative images such that each of the image setsrelates to a different one of the representative images, each of therepresentative images being based on the image set that is related tothe representative image and that is stored in the first database;transmit the representative images to the user computing device, whereinresponsive to the user computing device receiving the representativeimages, the graphical user interface on the user computing device isconfigured to display and enable selection of the representative images;and in response to receiving a selection of one of the representativeimages on the graphical user interface on the user computing device,transmit the image set related to the selected representative image tothe user computing device, wherein responsive to the user computingdevice receiving the image set relating to the selected representativeimage, the graphical user interface on the user computing device isconfigured to display the image set related to the selectedrepresentative image.
 8. The image processing system of claim 6, whereinthe instructions upon execution cause the image processing system todetermine which of the video segments includes one or more spectators bycausing the image processing system to: for each video segment: comparethe video segment to a pixel profile relating to the live event; andidentify whether the video segment includes the one or more spectatorsbased on the comparison.
 9. The image processing system of claim 1,wherein the one or more display time identifiers corresponding to whenthe first image is shown on the central display and the search timeidentifier corresponding to when the first image was shown on thecentral display each identifies a portion of the live event in which thefirst image is shown on the central display.
 10. The image processingsystem of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface on the usercomputing device is configured to display a selectable button, the oneor more search parameters are received by the image processing system inresponse to the button being selected, and the one or more searchparameters include time data corresponding to when the button isselected and GPS data corresponding to the user computing device whenthe button is selected.
 11. A method comprising: by one or moreprocessors: capturing a first image of a spectator at a live event froma stream of video that is shown on a central display at the live event,wherein during the live event the central display shows first videocontent and second video content captured by a plurality of cameras atthe live event, the first video content including an image of aparticipant of the live event, and the second video content includingthe first image of the spectator; determining one or more display timeidentifiers corresponding to when the first image is shown on thecentral display during the live event; storing the first image and theone or more display time identifiers in a first database such that thefirst image is linked with the one or more display time identifierswithin the first database; in response to the first image being shown onthe central display and being stored in the first database, and toreceiving, over a network, one or more search parameters submitted by auser via a graphical user interface on a user computing device, the oneor more search parameters including a search time identifiercorresponding to when the first image of the spectator was shown on thecentral display at the live event, retrieving the first image from thefirst database based on the search time identifier and the one or moredisplay time identifiers linked with the first image in the firstdatabase; and after retrieving the first image, transmitting the firstimage to the user computing device over the network, wherein the usercomputing device is configured to display the first image responsive toreceiving the first image.
 12. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: storing a record of the live event in the first databasesuch that the first image is linked with the record within the firstdatabase, wherein the one or more search parameters include anidentification of the live event, and retrieving the first image isfurther based on the identification of the live event and the recordlinked with the first image.
 13. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: prior to transmitting the first image to the user computingdevice, and responsive to the first image being retrieved from the firstdatabase, processing the first image according to a processing optionselected by the user via the graphical user interface, whereintransmitting the first image to the user computing device over thenetwork comprises transmitting the processed image to the user computingdevice.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: capturing aplurality of second images during the live event via a stationary cameraaimed at the central display, each of the second images being adifferent image of the central display, including a section of thecentral display that shows the first video content and the second videocontent during the live event, and being associated with a differentcapture time; and storing the second images and the capture time foreach second image in a second database such that each of the secondimages is linked with the capture time for the respective second imagewithin the second database, wherein the processing option selected bythe user is a superimpose option, and processing the first imageaccording to the processing option selected by the user comprises:identifying from the second images the second image that is nearest intime to the first image by comparing the capture time linked with eachof the second images within the second database to the one or moredisplay time identifiers linked to the first image; and superimposingthe first image onto the section of the identified second image thatshows the first video content and the second video content during thelive event, wherein the processed image transmitted to the usercomputing device includes the first image superimposed onto the secondimage.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein each second image includes asection of the central display that shows information about the liveevent that is associated with the capture time for the second image. 16.The method of claim 11, wherein capturing the first image from thestream of video comprises: slicing the stream of video into a pluralityof video segments, wherein a first one of the video segments includesthe first image; determining which of the video segments includes one ormore spectators; and capturing a plurality of image sets from the videosegments determined to include one or more spectators such that each ofthe image sets is captured from and includes one or more images from adifferent one of the determined video segments, wherein the videosegments determined to include the one or more spectators include thefirst video segment, and the image set captured from the first videosegment includes the first image.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinstoring the first image in the first database comprises storing theimage sets in the first database, the one or more search parametersrelate to each of the image sets and are submitted by the user after thefirst image is shown on the central display and stored in the firstdatabase, and further comprising: in response to receiving the one ormore search parameters submitted by the user that relate to each of theimage sets, generating a plurality of representative images such thateach of the image sets relates to a different one of the representativeimages, each of the representative images being based on the image setthat is related to the representative image and that is stored in thefirst database; transmitting the representative images to the usercomputing device, wherein responsive to the user computing devicereceiving the representative images, the graphical user interface on theuser computing device is configured to display and enable selection ofthe representative images; and in response to receiving a selection ofone of the representative images on the graphical user interface on theuser computing device, transmitting the image set related to theselected representative image to the user computing device, whereinresponsive to the user computing device receiving the image set relatedto the selected representative image, the graphical user interface onthe user computing device is configured to display the image set relatedto the selected representative image.
 18. The method of claim 11,wherein the one or more display time identifiers corresponding to whenthe first image is shown on the central display and the search timeidentifier corresponding to when the first image was shown on thecentral display each identifies a portion of the live event in which thefirst image is shown on the central display.
 19. The method of claim 11,wherein the graphical user interface on the user computing device isconfigured to display a selectable button, the one or more searchparameters are received in response to the button being selected, andthe one or more search parameters include time data corresponding towhen the button is selected and GPS data corresponding to the usercomputing device when the button is selected.
 20. A system comprising: aplurality of cameras located at a live event and configured, during thelive event, to capture first video content that includes the live eventand second video content that includes a plurality of spectators at thelive event; a central display located at the live event that shows thefirst video content and the second video content during the live event;one or more processors; and memory coupled to the one or more processorsand including instructions that upon execution by the one or moreprocessors cause the one or more processors to: capture a first image ofone of the spectators at the live event from the second video content;determine one or more display time identifiers corresponding to when thefirst image is shown on the central display; store the first image andthe one or more display time identifiers in a first database such thatthe first image is linked with the one or more display time identifierswithin the first database; in response to the first image being shown onthe central display and being stored in the first database, and toreceiving, over a network, one or more search parameters submitted by auser via a graphical user interface on a user computing device, the oneor more search parameters including a search time identifiercorresponding to when the first image of the spectator was shown on thecentral display at the live event, retrieve the first image from thefirst database based on the search time identifier and the one or moredisplay time identifiers linked with the first image within the firstdatabase; and after retrieving the first image, transmit the first imageto the user computing device over the network, wherein the usercomputing device is configured to display the first image responsive toreceiving the first image.
 21. An image processing system, comprising:one or more processors programmed to: capture a first image of aspectator at a live event from video content that is captured by aplurality of cameras at the live event and is shown on a central displayat the live event, the video content shown on the central displayfurther including an image of a participant of the live event; store thefirst image in a first database; in response to the first image beingshown on the central display and stored, and to receiving, over anetwork, one or more search parameters submitted by a user via agraphical user interface on a user computing device, the one or moresearch parameters including a second image of the spectator captured bythe user computing device, retrieve the first image from the firstdatabase based on a comparison between the first image and the secondimage using facial recognition software; and after retrieving the firstimage, transmit the first image to the user computing device over thenetwork, wherein the user computing device is configured to display thefirst image responsive to receiving the first image.